In the business of video electronic field production (EFP), it is not uncommon to use a variety of video cameras and related equipment from various manufacturers at a remote site. Typically one or more operators use remote controls from a central production console to facilitate the management of the various camera shots.
Although camera manufacturers generally offer remote control units for their own equipment, integration of these controls is difficult because of the differences in their physical and electrical configurations. For example, the various cameras may require different power supply voltages to operate. Additionally, the more economical remote units supplied by the camera manufacturers, in particular, the ENG-type or electronic news gathering camera controllers are unsuitable for such remote production applications because they do not provide for long length cable compensation. Typically, the cables between the camera and its supplied remote are limited to a distance of 100 feet or less. Moreover, these ENG-type controllers do not have the requisite provisions for sync-phase and color-phase adjustments demanded by multi-camera configurations.
At the same time, more sophisticated Universal camera controllers are available which can coordinate video equipment during field production, including the direct control of cameras without the need for their supplied remote units, but the size and cost of these more complex units are often prohibitive to the small and medium video production house. As such, there remains a need for a "universal" type of camera-control unit, that fills the gap between incompatible remotes supplied by camera manufacturers and the more expensive and sophisticated general purpose field production units. Such a controller would be fully compatible with the remote control units supplied by the camera manufacturers, yet overcome the obstacles relating to overall cooperation, synchronization, cable-length compensation and packaging.